Hornacek is THE MAN

[Revived]

Dwane Casey and Jeff Hornacek have been named the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Coaches of the Month, respectively, for games played in December.

Casey led the Toronto Raptors to an 8-6 (.571) record, including road wins over the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder. The six road wins Toronto posted tied for best in the conference in December.

Hornacek guided the Phoenix Suns to a 10-3 (.769) record, including wins over the Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers.

[bwgood77]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree here on some points. I can't hold against a coach not being able to use properly the likes of 2011-12 Hedo, Shannon Brown, Price, Telfair, Childress and the rest of the crap he had at his disposal. Like there was a proper way to use them anyway.

He was very unpopular over here. I thought he was a good coach though. But Hornacek looks like a phenomenal coach. I'm not sure Gentry was the right coach for really young players either, but Hornacek is the perfect coach for them.

[RunDogGun]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree here on some points. I can't hold against a coach not being able to use properly the likes of 2011-12 Hedo, Shannon Brown, Price, Telfair, Childress and the rest of the crap he had at his disposal. Like there was a proper way to use them anyway.

No worries,I guess you also think Childress is a three point shooter that should stand around that spot waiting for a pass. If you look at the stats from that year when Price was on the floor, we did much better than others.

Hedo played much better at the sf spot.

But that wasn't nearly the extent of what made Gentry a poor head coach.

Ok, if we are going to just disagree, what makes him a good coach?

[Ring_Wanted]

What I think about Childress is that he was not needed at all since we already had Hill and Dudley. Nothing that he did provide was lacking by the team.

Price, I guess one could digg deeper than his per, but just looking at it, he was 8.4 against the 14.1 of his opponents.

Hedo played much better at SF? The lineups including Hedo at SF totalized 40 minutes, and his per there was 9.1 against 13.8 at PF.

This is what I liked about Gentry: He used a system that fit the players he had, unlike Porter, but put an emphasys on deffense too. He played less offensive talented players who could make a difference on other areas, unlike Mike D, and was not averse to playing and develping youngs, either. Also, he usually kept the bench guys with the hot hand in the game instead of applying a rigid subs pattern.

The first this I said is that he was not perfect, or the best, and that there were two areas where he could have made a better job: timeouts and substitutions when games were getting out of control, but if you have the kind of players he was served, I won't blame you if you can't turn fecal matter into gold.

[RunDogGun]

What I think about Childress is that he was not needed at all since we already had Hill and Dudley. Nothing that he did provide was lacking by the team.

Price, I guess one could digg deeper than his per, but just looking at it, he was 8.4 against the 14.1 of his opponents.

Hedo played much better at SF? The lineups including Hedo at SF totalized 40 minutes, and his per there was 9.1 against 13.8 at PF.

This is what I liked about Gentry: He used a system that fit the players he had, unlike Porter, but put an emphasys on deffense too. He played less offensive talented players who could make a difference on other areas, unlike Mike D, and was not averse to playing and develping youngs, either. Also, he usually kept the bench guys with the hot hand in the game instead of applying a rigid subs pattern.

The first this I said is that he was not perfect, or the best, and that there were two areas where he could have made a better job: timeouts and substitutions when games were getting out of control, but if you have the kind of players he was served, I won't blame you if you can't turn fecal matter into gold.

I respectfully disagree with the hot hand, which was something I didn't bring up with you here, but complained about it often while he was coach. He did not keep in the hot hand, he often subbed them out, and if it wasn't for unselfish players either walking back to the bench by themselves, or looking back at Gentry questioning the sub, Gentry would have subbed in his starters at their regularly scheduled times.

So if you are going to go through my pers to try and counter my comments (which I don't see how that will work, but ok) please provide the list of developed youth you are talking about. He lucked out with a two lineup in 2010, spent the rest of the time trying to jam players into two lineups, and could never make it work.

Childress should have been used like Lou, only in the SF position. Dudley played a ton of shooting guard, so maybe you were confused about the amount of minutes available. Warwick was picked up as an Amare-lite, yet we rarely played with Nash, where Amare had almost all of his success.

If you watched those games, Price did quite well, and our team would come back from deficits, because of his hustle.e also did very well in a two man deal with Gortat.

Turk should have been in the second lineup at small forward, helping Dragic bring up the ball, similar to LB being with Goran, giving him another ball handler. But we only had Turk for half of one year. How come you didn't bring up Carter getting all those starts, when he acted as if he didn't care? Lopez starting over Gortat?

In his last season, care to explain why Goran wasn't put in the game in the fourth until very late? Or why Gortat sat the whole fourth after doing very well four three quarters?

Gentry used Mike's system, and allowed players to do what they wanted. Lucky for us, we had Nash and Hill to run the floor. But I still can't understand why both would sit at the same time.

So please critique your own comments with stats, and see if they meet up with your "per" stat.

[Ring_Wanted]

I said 'he was not averse to play and develop youngs'. Don't you think Dragic, Lopez, Dudley and Kieff fit that description? Others like Clark and Alando don't, of course, but this was not exactly Mike D. Considering the amount of youth he had from 2009-2013, I don't think I made an outrageous statement.

Anyway, I think we should leave it here. Just thinking about those rosters from 2011 to last season makes me want to puke.

[carey]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-bas ... e-suns-hot

A fantastic in-depth look at the Suns and Hornacek's philosophy. Absolutely a must read.

[RunDogGun]

I said 'he was not averse to play and develop youngs'. Don't you think Dragic, Lopez, Dudley and Kieff fit that description? Others like Clark and Alando don't, of course, but this was not exactly Mike D. Considering the amount of youth he had from 2009-2013, I don't think I made an outrageous statement.

Anyway, I think we should leave it here. Just thinking about those rosters from 2011 to last season makes me want to puke.

I'm not sure if remember, but Dragic sucked after the 2010 season, and really wasn't all that good in the 2010 season. Lopez pretty much sucked the whole time we had him, and because of it, we could barely play him minutes although he often started. Dudley had his skills before he even met Gentry, he just finally got some playing minutes to prove it. He did quite well as a starting two next to Nash, until Gentry decided to start half man half arse. Gentry turned Kief into a Frye-lite, which I think killed most of Mark's inside game. It wasn't until this season (when we actually had a real head coach) did Mark start working more inside. So every example you just brought up, seems to be pointing in a poor coaching job by Gentry, not a positive one.

He did play more guys than Mike (which wasn't always a good thing, often Gentry should have tightened up the rotation instead of continuing his dual lineups), and did call more timeouts, and every once in a while made an in game adjustment, but since Mike rarely did any of that, is that really something to brag about?

But hey, I understand you wanting to drop this, because I've had this argument with others, and have done more research on it.

[RunDogGun]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24395786/calm-cool-and-collected-how-jeff-hornaceks-keeping-the-suns-hot

A fantastic in-depth look at the Suns and Hornacek's philosophy. Absolutely a must read.

Sorry to side track the Horny thread. I love the guy, loved the player, and have wanted him to be in our coaching staff for three to four years now. I'm very glad he is our head coach.

[Ring_Wanted]

I want to drop this because it involves talking about Hedo Turkoglu, Josh Childress and the likes. It makes me sick, and if you think any other coach but a few select ones could have done much more with them, good for you. That's where we agree to disagree, and I am happy to leave it there.

[RunDogGun]

I want to drop this because it involves talking about Hedo Turkoglu, Josh Childress and the likes. It makes me sick, and if you think any other coach but a few select ones could have done much more with them, good for you. That's where we agree to disagree, and I am happy to leave it there.

I've have yet to hear an argument showing that Gentry was a good head coach. One doesn't even have to bring up players you don't like.

I have also yet to hear any explanation why VC started here in PHX, and you have yet to touch it, or even mention it. Care to explain Earl Barron starting?

Also, I still don't understand why so many people hated Childress, other than his contract. He did what he was told to do, he hustled more than any other player on our squad except Price, and he had the highest field-goal percentage, even though he was told to take threes due to Gentry's run to the three point line and wait for a pass offense. He always had tips and deflections, and when he went off script, and slashed to the basket where he was most effective, he did quite well.

[YFZblu]

I want to drop this because it involves talking about Hedo Turkoglu, Josh Childress and the likes. It makes me sick, and if you think any other coach but a few select ones could have done much more with them, good for you. That's where we agree to disagree, and I am happy to leave it there.

I've have yet to hear an argument showing that Gentry was a good head coach. One doesn't even have to bring up players you don't like.

I have also yet to hear any explanation why VC started here in PHX, and you have yet to touch it, or even mention it. Care to explain Earl Barron starting?

Also, I still don't understand why so many people hated Childress, other than his contract. He did what he was told to do, he hustled more than any other player on our squad except Price, and he had the highest field-goal percentage, even though he was told to take threes due to Gentry's run to the three point line and wait for a pass offense. He always had tips and deflections, and when he went off script, and slashed to the basket where he was most effective, he did quite well.

IMO Childress could have been productive here, especially when playing with Nash. I think his broken hand was part of the reason he was swept under the rug, and Gentry just sort of let him rot on the bench after that.

[Revived]

"A lot of credit goes to Jeff. He will try to deflect it all because of who he is. He sets a tone and has a lot of credibility for the way he has carried himself through his career. He is persistent...he played a hard-nosed brand of basketball. He played in a system where standards were high in both places, Utah and Phoenix. His players have the character to respond, adjust and buy into his system and the way he wants to play. They don't have any problems or drama. They compete."

-- Gregg Popovich on Hornacek and the Suns

Quite the flowing endorsement from one of the best, maybe THE best, HC of all time

Hope all this hype doesn't get to Hornacek's head and this doesn't turn out to be a fluke season.

[Sun Scorched]

I think Pop is a much better coach than Jackson, to say nothing of other coaches throughout the NBA's history.

[Revived]

I think he's the best too. He's done with less and he's shown the ability to do with less.

I think Pop could carry those 04-06 Laker teams deep into the playoffs.

[Big NBA Fan]

Hornacek has done an amazing job so far. He is, without a doubt, the coach of the year so far.

I have also been very impressed with Mike Budenholzer.

Kerr interviewed both before he unfortunately settled on Porter, who turned out to be a really bad fit.

Porter is a nice guy and a solid coach who just turned out to be the wrong guy for the 2008-2009 Suns.